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‘Bench-fixing a crime like match-fixing’: govt sticks to full court hearing ask in Punjab CM case

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  • Government sticks to demand of full court bench to hear Punjab CM election case.
  • Maryam Nawaz severely criticises “specific” judges for hearing PML-N’s cases.
  • Bilawal Bhutto, voices Maryam, says three people cannot decide country’s fate.

ISLAMABAD: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said Monday that “bench-fixing” is a crime similar to “match-fixing” and suo motu notice should be taken over it as she criticised a “specific” anti-PML-N bench being constituted for one-sided decisions.

Maryam, in a joint press conference alongside the coalition government leaders, including Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, said: “Institutions are insulted from within, not outside. One wrong decision blows up an entire case. Criticism isn’t needed where the right decisions are taken”.

The presser by the coalition government comes ahead of the significant Supreme Court hearing on Pervez Elahi’s plea challenging Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari’s ruling which called the recent re-election for the Punjab chief minister in favour of Hamza Shahbaz.

Maryam said that ever since Hamza became the chief minister, PTI leaders have been repeatedly approaching SC — and this time, they jumped over the walls of the top court.

Referring to the PTI’s petition against the chief minister’s July 22 election, Maryam said that the SC’s doors were opened late at night and the registrar gave “sufficient time” to the party to draft its appeal.

“This is not what happens in our justice system,” she said, adding that the PTI was given ample time to draft its petition by the registrar, while the common man is given months for the date of hearing.

Noting that the judiciary interfered when Hamza was elected, she asked why the SC didn’t call former NA deputy speaker Qasim Suri for violating the Constitution.

In a detailed verdict, the SC had noted that President Arif Alvi, then-prime minister Imran Khan, then-NA deputy speaker Suri, and then-law minister Fawad Chaudhry had violated their authority and constitution — when they avoided Khan from being ousted through a no-confidence vote on April 3.

“The court called Punjab Assembly’s deputy speaker to court […] so why didn’t it call Qasim Suri to the stand?” the PML-N leader questioned, as she criticised the justices.

‘Are suo motus only for the PML-N and its allies?’ 

Moving on, the PML-N leader said that the court’s interpretation of the constitution changes when there is a change in the party head — the decisions are different for Imran Khan and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

Maryam said that if the party’s head is Nawaz, he will be convicted on a “trivial issue” such as the residence permit (iqama) — referring to the Panama Papers case.

Maryam said that during former prime minister Khan’s tenure, the country witnessed a downfall in all sectors and the courts played “an important” role in that.

The PML-N leader asked which crime had Khan not committed; he was involved in inciting violence, attacking property, and in the attack on Parliament and the PTV.

“Did any court take suo motu notice against Khan? Are the suo motus only for the PML-N and its allies?” she asked.

Criticising the judges for the recent remarks during the “Azadi March” hearing, Maryam said that despite PTI blatantly violating the court’s orders, the party was still given leverage.

“After he blatantly violated the orders, the judge said that maybe he didn’t receive the order; they also said maybe they burnt the green belt to save themselves from tear gas.”

Maryam said that the courts were opened at night for former federal minister Shireen Mazari, but she was kept in jail for five months and not given bail.

“The country’s [situation] is not under control, the global community is not happy with us; this is all due to Khan and the court’s decisions,” Maryam added.

Fazl calls for self-accountability

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman expressed that he does not expect justice from the current bench — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — and said that he fully backs all claims of Maryam.

“That’s the reason we have been demanding a full bench to hear the case so that justice can be ensured,” Fazl said, adding that the more consensus there is, the more we hope the decision will be on merit.

The JUI-F chief said that the institutions should introspect their roles and overcome their drawbacks as he stressed self-accountability.

Three people cannot decide country’s fate: Bilawal Bhutto

PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto, too, reiterated that the coalition government only has one demand: the formation of a full bench to hear the case related to the Punjab CM’s election.

“This cannot happen that three people decide the fate of this country. Three people cannot decide on whether this country will run on a democratic, elected or selective system,” he said.

He repeated: “It cannot be possible that three people change Pakistan’s 1973 Constitution with just the stroke of a pen”.

Bilawal said we want the country to run through a democratic process. He said that we can see that some people, who wanted to make this country a “one-unit” system”, can’t digest that Pakistan is moving closer to democratic norms and that the public is making its own decisions.

‘Maryam should go to jail’: Fawad Chaudhry

In a scathing attack on Maryam, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry demanded that “Maryam should go to jail” as she is speaking against institutions despite being on bail.

Fawad, in a press conference, said that it was the mistake of people in powerful quarters that such people have been “imposed” on the country and reiterated that “their next target will be against certain army personnel”.

The PTI leader reprimanded Chief Minister Punjab Hamza Shahbaz and asked in what capacity he was still in office. “The people have rejected them.”

Fawad then asked the Supreme Court to announce its verdict on Speaker Punjab Assembly Pervez Elahi’s petition as the province has been “without a government from the last three months”.

Taking over the presser, PTI leader Shireen Mazari said that coalition rulers will get an NRO II.

“We have given a message to the neutrals: Decide for the people. It’s been three months and Pakistan is in a bad condition,” she said.

Politics

Imran Khan surpasses political rivals in popularity survey: Miftah

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  • Miftah, Abbasi, Khokhar testing waters for launch of a political party.
  • Khokar is more keen to launch the party than the other two.
  • There is space for launching a new political party, they believe. 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan had surpassed all political leaders in popularity in a recent opinion poll, The News reported on Wednesday.

Miftah along with Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Mustafa Khokhar, who had earlier come up with the idea of seminars on “Reimagining Pakistan”, is also presently testing waters for the launch of a political party.

Miftah told The News no decision has been taken as yet, but presently they are seriously thinking on the issue.

He disclosed that they had also done a public opinion survey in July this year, which showed Imran way ahead of all in popularity.

What Abbasi said about his political future in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and about the need for a new political party is part of the trio’s strategy to test the waters before reaching a final decision.

Abbasi, Miftah, and Mustafa are presently discussing the launch of a political party with different people besides encouraging discussion on the issue in the media and social media to assess whether it is a doable option. 

Among the three, Khokar is more keen to launch the party than the other two who are not fully clear as yet whether they should do it or not.

All three, according to Miftah, agree there is space for launching a new political party in the present political situation. The question, he said, remains whether they have the capacity to attract people to join a new political party.

Through a leading entity, conducting public opinion polls, Miftah said they have also got a survey done to assess the popularity of different political parties and leaders. Their reading of the survey report made them reach the conclusion of a need for a new political party.

The three believe a significant number of voters, who are presently inclined towards Imran Khan and PTI for their rejection of PML-N, can be attracted by a new political party because neither the staunch supporters of Imran Khan nor of Nawaz would vote for any other political party.

In view of the post-May 9 difficult situations faced by Imran Khan and his party, the PTI, it is believed the new political party may attract significant voters (not the staunch supporters) of the PTI, who would never vote for PMLN or other political party in Punjab.

Among the three, Khokhar, left the PPP after the party’s leadership objected to his certain statements criticising powerful quarters. Miftah got the cold shoulder from the PML-N top leadership for publicly defending his economic solutions, which are different from that of Ishaq Dar’s.

Miftah also criticised Dar’s policies as finance minister and argued that he too was criticised as finance minister by Dar. However, his criticism of Dar’s policies has made him an alien to Sharifs.

Abbasi has started distancing himself from the PML-N top leadership for the last several months. The PML-N top leadership was keen not to let Abbasi drift from them, but the latter sounded dissatisfied with the politics of all the three leading political parties including PML-N.

Abbasi also did not show his keenness in the PML-N ticket for the next elections, while he had already declined to continue as senior vice-president of the party after Maryam Nawaz was announced as senior vice-president and chief organiser of PML-N.

On the direction of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam had visited Abbasi at the latter’s residence in Islamabad to convince him not to leave the office of senior vice-president of PMLN. Shahid had politely declined. Now, he appears to be quitting the PML-N anytime.

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What will happen when Nawaz Sharif lands in Pakistan?

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  • Nawaz Sharif to attend rally on Oct 21, appear before court the next day.
  • “Consultations being held on seeking protective bail from another court.”
  • Dastagir adds that Nawaz can get nation out of difficulties even today. 


LAHORE: The legal minds of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are holding consultations on challenges party’s supremo Nawaz Sharif faces upon his return to the country, it emerged on Tuesday.

Speaking to Geo News, former federal minister Khurram Dastagir said that Nawaz will go to attend a rally at Minar-e-Pakistan after landing at the Lahore airport on October 21 and will appear before a court the next day.

However, he added, the party is holding discussions on legal matters for the intervening period between his arrival and appearance before the respective court and consultations are being held on seeking protective bail from another court [to avoid arrest].

The former prime minister has been in London since November 2019 after he left the country for medical treatment. He was serving a jail term in corruption cases when the Lahore High Court (LHC) allowed him to seek treatment from abroad.

On Monday, Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti created a stir when he said that the PML-N supremo would be arrested upon return but backtracked his remarks following a strong response from the party.

The PML-N is preparing for a grand reception for Nawaz and plans to hold a massive rally of 1 million people in their stronghold — Lahore.

Dastagir, while responding to a question, said that the former premier had gone abroad on the permission granted to him by two courts and would enter with their approval.

“An appeal is pending before a court and Nawaz Sharif will pursue it upon return,” he said.

The former minister added that people should understand that those responsible for the corruption are those who have been doing political engineering since 2014.

“The situation was bad in 2013 but Nawaz Sharif brought the country out of the worst situation and even today, he can get the nation out of these difficulties.”

To a question, Dastagir said the 15-party coalition is responsible for the successes and failures of the 16-month government.

“PML-N’s 16-month performance is a story of pulling the country out of crises,” he added.

When asked about the reports of the formation of a new political party, he responded, “Shahid Khaqan Abbasi should have told that there is peace in Karachi today and credit goes to the PML-N.”

Referring to the spike in militancy in the country, the PML-N leader said the terrorism that is increasing today is because of Imran Khan and Arif Alvi who offered amnesty to the Taliban in 2021.

About a rumoured “secret” meeting of Shehbaz Sharif earlier this month, he said, “I do not know about the meeting in Gujranwala, I cannot deny or confirm it.”

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Pakistan

Senate committee recommends ECP hold polls within 90 days

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  • Committee recommends ECP announce polls schedule at earliest.
  • ECP official says preliminary delimitations will be published on Sep 27.
  • About 60 days are required for filing and disposal of representations, ECP.

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct elections within 90 days by reducing the time for filing representations for delimitation from 30 to seven days, The News reported.

In a meeting presided over by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Taj Haider, the committee also drew the electoral body’s attention towards its constitutional obligation of holding polls in the context of the National Assembly’s dissolution.

The Senate panel recommended that the commission announce the schedule of the election at the earliest to ensure clarity on the uncertainty around conducting elections.

Briefing the committee on the polls-related matters, ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan said the preliminary delimitations will be published on September 27. 

However, he explained a period of approximately 60 days will be required for filing and disposal of representations.

He told the committee that some 91,809 polling stations were to be established out of which 49,919 had been designated as sensitive or highly sensitive. 

He pointed out that out of the 49,919 polling stations, 17,411 had been categorised as highly sensitive and another 32,508 as sensitive while 41,809 (around 45%) were designated as normal.

He contended that the general election will encompass 266 National Assembly constituencies and 593 provincial assemblies’ constituencies. Moreover, he noted around 1 million polling staff will be required for the upcoming general election.

The committee inquired about the methods for the consolidation of results. The secretary of ECP said electronic devices having ECP-developed software will be used to send snapshots of Form-45 to returning officers and software was also equipped to keep track of time and place of snapshots in order to ensure the legitimacy of elections.

Regarding the use of funds for development schemes, Senator Haider emphasised that funds should be allocated to the approved schemes. The secretary ECP explained that there was no ban on development schemes approved prior to August 15.

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